AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CAST BY FONDERIA SOMMER, NAPLES, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

This figure is one of a large number of versions, often with significant variations, copying the models which were placed in one of the temples of the Portico d'Ottavia in Rome. One of the most famous copies is the version now in the Uffizi, Florence, first recorded in 1704 when it was in the Villa Medici in Rome. The statue was believed to represent Venus immediately after her birth. The best versions are generally considered to be the one now in the Louvre, excavated at Vienne in 1828, and the one in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme, excavated at Hadrian's Villa in the 1920s.